Althea Wheaton
Born in Kentucky, raised in all of Appalachia.
Hi! I’m Althea Wheaton, a recent graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design with a major in Animation and minor in Character Technical Direction. Stumbling upon my love for rigging was a happy accident when I took my first class I realized my unique problem solving skills and eagerness to learn makes me perfect for this line of work. Through collaborating with animators and fellow riggers, I learned to love the part I played in pushing a character’s acting. The more I could push the rig, the more freedom an animator had to perfect the performance. Along the way I’ve picked up other skills and passions such as MEL and Python scripting that were essential in supporting my production and crew members. I gained experience in writing tools that would help speed up tedious pipeline tasks that were detrimental to tight deadlines. In addition to tech support and pipeline management, I also worked in both Maya and Houdini on a production to design and manage a character effects pipeline for a variety of characters including groom, hair sim, and cloth simulation. Growing up with a family wide love of both arts and sciences gave me the ability to excel at critical thinking and problem solving as well as having a keen eye for aesthetics. The unique combination of these skills were the foundations on which I’ve built my career in character technical direction.